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3 Reasons Why Some Physicians Regret Their Career – 8/16/2012

Becoming a physician
might seem like a dream job, but it turns out that clinicians don't always agree. According to a 2012 survey, the number of physicians unhappy with their profession is on the rise. In the annual online questionnaire, it shows that nearly half of the doctors surveyed regret their career choice. Of the 24,000 doctors who responded to the survey, 54 percent said they would choose medicine again as a career. Just a year before, 69 percent said they were satisfied with their medical career. What is causing physicians to regret their career choice? The top three reasons from the survey are listed below:

Declining Incomes

While becoming a doctor is still one of the best guarantees for earning six figures, the pay for many specialties has actually declined over the past ten years. In just the past year, the average salary for radiologists and orthopedic surgeons – among the best-paid specialties – declined 10 percent, while general surgeons made 12 percent less in 2011 than in 2010. Although the average American would be quite pleased with the salary of even the lowest-paid doctors, the education required to become a physician is extensive. Aspiring doctors often end up with student loans to pay off once they begin working, and many of them are finding the payoff inadequate when compared with their debt.

Within the healthcare industry, there is a wide disparity among physicians’ incomes. The highest-paid fields include radiology, orthopedics, and cardiology. Meanwhile, the fields of pediatrics, family medicine, and internal medicine are known for the lowest pay. These pay gaps are troubling for both current and aspiring doctors; one problem created by this gap is that fewer medical students are going into lower-paying specialties such as family medicine.

Excessive Paperwork

Other drawbacks of the job are unrelated to the pay rate. While many new doctors assume they'll be spending most of their days caring for patients, in fact paperwork can consume many hours of the week, leaving less time for interacting with patients. According to the survey, a third of doctors report spending at least 10 hours per week on paperwork and other administrative tasks. Doctors must frequently fill out multiple complex insurance forms for a single patient, along with other paperwork that leaves them feeling overwhelmed by red tape, with not enough time in the day to provide optimal care for all of their patients.

Concerns about the Affordable Care Act

Many doctors fear that the bureaucracy is only beginning. Changes to the healthcare system prompted by the Affordable Care Act – often referred to as Obamacare – could lead to even more paperwork for doctors, along with lower incomes. The Act, a significant overhaul of the healthcare system, changes the way doctors will be paid for their services. Many healthcare professionals believe that this will reduce doctors' salaries. Nearly half of the physicians surveyed also believe that the new guidelines will negatively impact patient care, and many are concerned that the effects of the Affordable Care Act could lead to even lower job satisfaction rates among doctors.

For some physicians, the profession has not lived up to their expectations and has caused a situation of much dissatisfaction. But for the majority of doctors, their passion for helping others and knowing they make a difference in people’s lives, the word regret has never crossed their minds.